1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of a summary reproducing apparatus of the image information and particularly, the present invention relates to a technical field by which the partial image information to be extracted upon reproduction of the summary is decided on the basis of the preliminary announcement information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as a recording apparatus such as a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) for recording and reproducing the image information such as TV broadcasting programs or the like has become widely used, the digest reproduction (i.e., the summary reproduction) has been come into practical use to provide the image information by which the image information is summarized in a short time (hereinafter, referred to as the summary information) without seeing all of the recorded image information.
In order to carry out suchlike summary reproduction, for example, mainly taking particular note of the image information itself, there is a method to carry out the summary reproduction by detecting a portion in which a scene is changed over (i.e., scene change). And taking particular note of the voice information to be attached to the image information, there is a method to carry out the summary reproduction by the use of the amplitude of the voice information and a duration time thereof. A typical method to carry out the summary reproduction as taking particular note of the voice information is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-32776.
As shown in FIG. 7, a summary reproducing apparatus1 described in the above publication is provided with a voice level detecting device 3 for detecting a voice level of the image information to which the voice information, which is provided through a communication line or an electric wave or the like, is attached, a comparator 4 for comparing this voice level with a reference voice level, a duration time timer 5, which obtains the duration time when the voice level is larger than the reference voice level, a digest address generating device 8 which generates an address of a digest portion from the duration time which is obtained by the duration time timer 5, a recording reproduction device 9 which records this address, a digest address reproducing device 11 which reproduces the recorded address, and a reproduction control device 10 which reproduces the voice image information of the digest portion on the basis of this address.
According to this constitution, this summary reproducing apparatus1 carries out the summary reproduction of the voice image information, in such a manner that it records the address of the portion where the voice level of the input image information is larger than the reference voice level in the case where the voice level of the input image information is larger than the reference voice level, and where the input image information has been continued for a predetermined time and then it extracts a portion of which level is larger than this reference voice level on the basis of this address.
However, the above-described method to carry out the summary reproduction as taking particular note of the voice information to be attached to the image information involves a problem such that it cannot reproduce the summary appropriately if a content of this image information is not appreciated in the image information having a story (continuity) such as a drama or the like.
Normally, in a sports program, the voice portion having a large voice level indicates a portion having the exciting and enjoyable image information and further, it constitutes a characteristic portion of the image information. Alternatively, in a news program, a silent portion (i.e., a portion without voice) indicates a portion in which a scene is changed over or a content is changed over and further, it constitutes a characteristic portion of the image information.
However, in the image information by which various scenes are built on the basis of a scenario of a drama or the like so as to attain the artistic intention and which has the continuity for making a story, the portion having the large voice level or the silent portion having no voice is not necessarily a characteristic portion of this image information.
Accordingly, according to the above-described summary reproduction method, in the image information such as a drama, it is often the case that the extracted portion is not important for the image information, so that this involves a problem such that it the appropriate summary reproduction cannot be carried out appropriately.